Conventional safety devices commonly take the form of a body harness including shoulder straps and leg loops, the harness being provided at front and/or rear with strap attachment rings so that a user can employ a lanyard or like strap extending between at least one of the strap attachment rings on the body harness and a strong anchorage point on the pole, tree or like structure on which the user is working or mounted in order to arrest the user should he inadvertently fall from the elevated structure. Such aforementioned strap attachment rings are provided on the harness at front and/or rear in regions at or above the level of the user's chest. Such an arrangement has the almost essential characteristic that when a fall is arrested the user is subjected to shock loading when the user is so oriented that he is disposed substantially upright or with the major axis of his body substantially aligned with the direction in which the shock force acts. In this upright or aligned posture shock load is distributed by the harness to straps which pass between the legs of the user and this reduces greatly any injurious effect.
It is also known to provide such a harness with a belt worn about the user's waist and to which may be attached a positioning strap which can be connected to or looped around a pole or the like on which the user is working or mounted to help him position himself on the pole. Such a pole positioning strap is commonly attached to one or more of a pair of rings secured to the waist belt and located one adjacent each of the hips of the user. Should the user slip when wearing such a waist belt, the positioning strap will also act to arrest the fall; but in this case shock loading will be transmitted by way of these rings to the waist belt of the user. However, because it is worn around the waist of the user, there is a significant risk associated with the mechanics of a fall, even a fall not exceeding 1 metre, that excessive shock transmitted to the user by way of a waist belt could be effective to cause very serious injury to the user. There is also a possibility of misuse of such a harness equipped with strap attachment rings one adjacent each hip of the user, that a safety lanyard could be attached to a said ring, thus placing the user at risk of severe injury in the event of a fall arrested by the lanyard.
It would be desirable to be able to provide a personal safety device the construction of which was such as to eliminate or at least substantially reduce the possibility of injury due to shock loading being transmitted to the body of the user by a waist belt in the event of a fall. Such intention might be assisted by eliminating from such a harness all strap attachment rings located at or below the level of the waist of the user. However the provision of such rings, one adjacent each of the users hips, has proved to be extremely useful for attaching a pole strap for aiding work on poles carrying power or telegraph cables, or for work in trees.